No Big Island Charter Schools to benefit

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Hawaii Charter Schools are Hawaii PUBLIC schools serving all Hawaii students who apply! We are NOT private schools or elitist schools that pick and chose who to take. Both charter schools I've taught at were over 80% free and reduced lunch population and both had much higher than average numbers of special education students. These are families whose childrenwere not getting the education they needed at the large DOE schools.

Here in Hawaii there are no "local districts" we are the only state in the country with just one school district, which means no local control or variation from district to district. Hawaii public charter schools were started by parents and teachers who were frustrated with the one size fits all Hawaii DOE approach to education, where students who did not fit into a specific mold had to change to fit the schools. On the mainland if you don't like your school district you can just move to a different one, without having to change jobs, or even town. In Hawaii you have to leave the state unless you send your kid to a charter school. Charter schools are required to meet all the same testing and performance mandates as every other public school in Hawaii, but have to do so with about 1/2 the funding when you take into account facilities funding. This year has been the worst funded year yet for Hawaii Charter schools, and we can really feel it in the classroom, as we already had cut everything we could outside of the classroom before cutting in the classroom. My fellow charter school teachers are some of the hardest working professionals I've ever met, but we cannot keep up this pace for much longer without burning out. If you care about your local charter schools please lean on the legislature to vote for equitable funding for charter schools this session.

Carol